A side benefit (and drawback) of healthy eating!

Yesterday Maddie had a visit to her Rhumeatologist then we went and visited a friend in the hospital. 

Then we went to lunch.

So many choices in the big city.

So many healthy choices. So many bad choices.

We ate at In and Out.

Yeah.

It was yummy! But left me feeling a little greasy and queasy.  

So we shopped it off! :) 

I was looking for a new outfit for an important meeting. I didn't find what I was looking for.. BUT, I had to try on SMALL dresses!! WOOOHOOO!! (That was super fun!)

We got home and for dinner I ate the leftover Lobster Mac-n-Cheese that Doug and I made at a couple's cooking class. I hated for it to go to waste!! I ate lots of healthy veggies with the pasta, but oh my....

I was hurting by bedtime and this morning.

With Eat to Live's lifestyle, you don't eat dairy or fat. Well, you can guess what made the mac-n-cheese so yummy. Yeah, lots of dairy and fat.

Ugh! I feel bloated and bleh.

So this morning I got up, had a great workout (even though I wanted to throw up at times!) and decided to enjoy a detox day!

It's back to fruits and veggies for me!

First up a green smoothie. So good. 

A photo posted by emilymclemore (@faithhopeandart) on Jul 21, 2015 at 5:59am PDT

Learning to be Brave

I've never considered myself to be a scaredy-cat. 

Sure, I don't like scary movies, cause with my active imagination it doesn't take much to put myself in the movie in my head and then there is no sleep for me!

But I've never been afraid of a challenge, be it physical or mental.

But something about my body image makes me a self-conscious and ready to hide.  And for the majority of my life, I have felt this way. Even as a high school student and a physically fit and active college theatre major! I've had highs, were I felt good and was willing to wear something more revealing, but for the majority of my life, I have felt the need to cover and hide.

I am learning to overcome that. I am learning to be brave. to risk ridicule and scorn.

I am learning that my daughters need me to show that I am confident in who I am. That I am brave and willing to try new things. That I am happy in the skin God gave me.

So I did something CRAZY this week.

I wore a two piece swimsuit to the community pool. 

It was hard. I struggled mentally the entire time. But my little girls were so fun. When I walked out with the two piece on, Lexi said "oh mama, you look great!" and Kylie was so excited and jabbered on about my swimsuit.  So I did it.

Here we are at the pool. It was just a Kylie and me day.

So... ta da.

Here I am.

In a two piece no less.

I have to say, when I look at this picture, I feel proud. 

I can see every workout and every struggle in those arms and in the smaller waistline. 

It's not easy.

And in case you or I forgot... 

 Wow.

And I'm not finished. I am a work in progress.

Eat to Live, My 6 week recap and the OFFICIAL RESULTS

My 6 week Eat to Live trial run is complete. It should have been complete last Monday, but since I basically took the week of Maddie's birthday off, I added a week to the complete the full six week challenge.

And here are the official results.

I lost 10.5 pounds 

(based on today's weigh-in... which is 1.5 pounds up from Wednesday.. Wednesdays are my light days.. so really, we could say that I lost 12 pounds.)

But the eye-popping changes are:

• Waist -4 inches
• Hips -3 inches
• Chest - 2 inches
• Right Thigh -6.25 inches
• Left Thigh -6 inches
• Right Bicep -1.25 inches
• Left Bicep -1.25 inches
• Shoulder -.75 inch
• Right Calf -1.5 inches
• Left Calf -2 inches

That's a total of 28 inches GoNe since April 6th.

AMAZING!!

Did you read that? 

I LOST TWENTY-EIGHT INCHES in 6 weeks.

Even better, I feel great and am committed to this lifestyle! 

Want to learn more about Eat to Live? Check out Dr. Furhman's website.

What? These pants are tooo big!!

When I started this journey, I knew that I wanted to feel better, but I really wasn't expecting to LOOK different, or to lose enough weight and inches that my clothes would be too big.

But here I am..

Here is my week 5 midweek report.

I am 4 pounds from weighing what I weighed when I went to the doctor for my first OB visit with Maddie, SIXTEEN YEARS AGO! 

Yeah. 

And, my size 6 pants are HUGE on me. 

I never imagined that I would need a smaller size than 6, so over the last year I have restocked my wardrobe a few pieces at a time.  All of my pants are too big now.  Time to buy size 4. 

WHAT? 

That is CRAZY talk.

Anyone want to go shopping? :)

I'm not even dreading swimsuit season this year!

Eating REAL food

I've had a lot of people in the last few weeks ask me about what I am eating...the easy answer is that I am eating REAL food! 

Nothing processed.

Lots and lots of fresh food.

(okay... a little processed as I look at the picture below and see the non-dairy creamer in my coffee... )

So here is what I had this morning for breakfast after a 4 mile incredibly humid/sticky run!

I had a bowl of steel cut oats, some fresh fruit, a glass of water and a cup of coffee.

Side note: I use the Hungry Girl  oatmeal philosophy.. My huge bowl of oatmeal is 1/3 cup steel cut oats, 1 cup water and 2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk. You cook it just like normal, just longer. Instead of a small bowl, you end up with a huge bowl! And yes, that is a little butter (less than a pat.. but it is the real thing) and a teaspoon of brown sugar.

When I cut up fruit for breakfast, I go ahead and cut up some for lunch.

Lunch is a salad. It's a big salad, but fits in the take along (quart size?) tub.

I have 1/2 and 1/2 spinach and mixed greens first. Then a handful of coleslaw mixture (no sauce on it!) some edamame, yellow bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, carrots and avocado. 

I have a small container of balsamic vinaigrette to put on the salad, if I feel like it. I don't use dressing very often, but sometimes I do.

I will also eat my cup of beans with lunch. I often put the beans in the salad.

And that's lunch. 

What I really like is that for whatever reason, eating this crunchy salad takes time and work.  You have to CHEW the food and since it's work it takes my entire lunch time.  When I ate processed junk for lunch, it would only take a few minutes and then I snacked and often ate more than I intended cause I didn't have anything else to do!

Another thing is that I am NOT counting calories, nor am I worried about the fat in the avocado! Since I'm doing my best to eat a pound of raw veggies, a pound of cooked veggies, a cup of beans and three fruits everyday, there just really isn't any need to worry about calories or fat. I like avocado and I like nuts, so I'm eating them and enjoying them!

In addition to the "approved" Eat to Live foods, I also have my serving or so of non-dairy creamer. I have the equivalent of about a cup and a half of coffee every day and then at night I have a glass of white wine. 

For dinner, I eat my cooked vegetables and often more beans and sometimes some fish or a little chicken. Eat to Live allows for 12 ounces of lean meat/fish a week, and really that is more than enough for me.  

Another question I am asking myself, and others have asked..

Will I be able to continue this lifestyle past the 6 weeks that I committed to? I'm planning on it. I may let up on the very limited meat part, but I don't know, I'm not really missing the meats.  I'll probably add back a little dairy, but I've never been a big milk fan. I do however like cheese dip!

All in all,  I feel better than I have in years and in case I haven't said it lately.. I am SLEEPING better than I have ever slept!!

No Spanx here baby!

My Eat to Live Update.. Week 4

Mother's Day 2015

That's all me. No Spanx, no girdle, no nothing extra to keep me tucked in.

This past week I've not eaten my best.. we had birthday cake and teacher appreciation lunches, I've coughed and coughed so I haven't been able to work out like I wanted.. but even in the midst of all that, I've worked hard to eat my raw veggies, my cooked veggies, my beans and my fruit.

And I've lost at least another pound.

I feel better than I have in like forever.  

I was going to call this week a do-over week. Till I put that dress on! 

Yeah, I'm excited.

A Handstand and a Memory

I had to share today's handstand! 

(I don't know what day it is.. I don't keep count like that..it's just another day, another handstand!)

The back story is that I feel like crud. I'm exhausted and worn out and have low morale.

But in the midst of work yuck, my students have my heart.

This afternoon after class (while running a fever no less) I went across to the dance studio so that I could do my handstand in a new place.

My advanced art students who I dearly love are also top dancers. They know about my Eat to Live quest and my handstand challenge. 

I asked one of the girls if she would take a cool picture of me.. she said sure, but then she and a couple of other girls discussed doing handstands with me!

I said let's do it. Then they pretty much backed out.

So Allison helped me into my handstand (don't want to foot plant the mirror!) and then stood back and watched as I said come on!

So she ran over (as seen in picture 2) and Shelby (another of my babies) helped her and we took a picture.

What was so funny about the process is that all the while we were laughing and playing around.. and I was upside down, the dance teacher, was watching. The other dancers tried to get her to join our handstand party by chanting her name.

She said no. She said that I had been working out! 

I have to say, my heart needed that. The dance teacher is fit and young.. and she didn't want to do a handstand.. but I was STILL doing one. :)

Yeah, in reality it was probably less than 20 seconds AND my feet were balanced on the wall, but I felt like a rock star!

So this is me. Being real with my students. Oh how these kids have my heart.

Eat to Live: Day 23 Update.. so long 18.75 INCHES!

I really like my mid-week measurements.  They keep me motivated.

So here is my Day 23 update!

Down another pound for a total of 10 pounds.

Down another inch in the waist

Down another inch around each thigh

Down 1/2 inch in hips.

Down an inch on chest.

Down 1 3/4 inch on shoulders.

Down 3/4 inch on left bicep.

Down 1 1/4 inch on right bicep.

CRAZY! Huh!

That makes for a total of 18.75 INCHES GoNe!!!!!

And here I am this morning. A little over 3 weeks ago, this was a fitted shirt.

And for those of you who might wonder how a diet that is made up of 98% plant based,  2% meat, no dairy, no fried, and no sugar has affected my fitness.. well..

Today I ran a 10:12 warm up mile, an 8:27 mile, a 9:10 third mile and a 9:47 cool down mile. 

Not bad!

Can't wait to see what next week brings.

Spaghetti Squash. So simple. So delish.

I've always been a big fan of pasta! I LOVE pasta! So this new healthy living stuff has forced me out of my comfort zone and into a new world of vegetables.

One of my favorite things about my Eat to Live journey is that I am enjoying eating. I'm not feeling guilty about my food choices and that I am truly enjoying the flavors and textures of REAL FOOD!

This last week I made Spaghetti Squash. I've tried it before and it wasn't a hit.. but I think it was because I was trying to eat it with pasta, not in place of pasta! 

So here is what I did..

Take the squash and wash it and cut it in half. Place on a baking sheet flesh side down and bake at 450 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Take the squash out of the oven and let cool until you can handle holding the squash in place. I didn't wait very long as I was hungry!

Using a fork, start scraping the flesh of the squash. It immediately starts pulling apart into "noodles."

This is just half of the squash! It makes a lot of "spaghetti."

 And here is the bowl with both halves of squash noodles pulled.

And here is a picture of my dinner. Roasted veggies (yes, squash two ways for dinner), green beans, and spaghetti squash with a plain tomato jarred sauce.  It was yummy!

With the leftovers, I poured the remaining sauce over the top of the squash, sprinkled less than a 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese on top of the sauce and then finished the dish with a generous sprinkling of Italian seasoning. I put it in the oven, with the lid on the casserole dish,  at 300 degrees for 45 minutes. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It looked awesome. It tasted even better!

Homemade Hummus and Roasted Chickpeas

In keeping with Eat to Live and trying to add a little bean variety to my day, I decided to make my own hummus and roasted chickpeas to add to my salads.

I bought a one pound bag of dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans). I soaked the peas for 12 hours and then put them in the crockpot for almost 24 hours. I didn't intend to cook them that long, but I started them before I went to bed and in the morning they were still hard, so I kept them on low and went to work. By the time I got home from work and had a chance to deal with them it was probably 20 hours in the crockpot!

Anyway.. I took them out of the crockpot and placed about a third of them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels and dried them off.

Then I drizzled some Hot Chili Sesame Oil on them.. just enough to coat, but not too much.

And into the oven at 400 degrees for about 30+ minutes. I wanted them crunchy and toasted.

I ate some by the handful. They were really good straight from the oven hot and crunchy with an occasional kick of spice! I have also used them in my salads all week. I wanted them crunchier, but given how long they were in the crockpot, it is a wonder they were edible!

With the remaining beans I made hummus. 

I placed the beans in my big blender with a little of their cooking liquid and added chopped garlic, Hot Chili Sesame Oil, lemon and some salt.

And pureed for a long time.  I added a little more of the cooking liquid as I blended the beans.

Done! It's yummy and I know exactly what is in it!

Next time I'm going to not cook the beans so long to see if I can get them a little crunchier for my "topping."

And here is my salad with my homemade hummus! No dressing required!

Eat to Live. Day 17 Update... you are not going to believe it

I sound like an infomercial. 

Too bad I'm not being paid for my results!!

Day 17 of Eat to Live.

Here I am this morning.

(Sidenote: I'd like to go on record for saying that I don't have toothpaste on my chin. 

That's a weird spot in the picture? No clue, but I don't really have two white spots on my face... just sayin.)

Okay for the results....so far!

Day 17: 

Pounds lost: 9!!!!! 

Yes, that is NINE pounds in 17 days!! 

Inches lost: 10.5!!!

Yes, that is 10.5 inches from my thighs, waist and hips..

I'm not even keeping up with the inches from other areas right now!

And my size 6 pants are too big. 

Oh my gravy. I am pumped.

I'm telling you, this veggie, fruit and bean lifestyle works. It is easier and easier to pass up the breads, dairy and fried foods. And I'm not even giving up everything.. I have my coffee (with non-dairy peppermint mocha creamer) every morning and a glass of white wine most evenings.

I truly can't get over how my body has responded to cutting out all of the junk. I eat fresh fruits and veggies for meals (raw and cooked). I eat a little meat, some fish, at least one good serving of any variety of bean every day and occasionally I have a cookie or something like that. 

In fact, we ate at Cotton Patch the other night. I had the Heart Healthy Salmon and Veggies. I ate one piece of cornbread with dinner and it was like eating a donut it was so sweet! Oh how my taste buds have changed.

Don't know how this will continue to play out, but right now, I AM ON FIRE! :)

Another 3 pounds GONE! Eat to Live ROCKS!

I have to share. 

Yes, I have become that crazy nut job that talks about eating brussel sprouts.

I went in to this vegetable eating, no dairy, no sugar, no fats and very little meat with skepticism. I was just really leery of being able to maintain this type of diet for more than 2 days at a time. That my normal limit. I'm good for two days, then I need a day of bad.. where I undo all the good that I did.

But I've been SHOCKED. I would have never thought that I would WANT to eat vegetables.

See... look at this pan of roasted brussel sprouts.

And  on Friday night.. take a look at this. My family ate comfort food. Velveeta shells and cheese with ground meat and black-eyed peas, crescent rolls and fruit.

And what did I eat? I ate roasted vegetables, bell pepper, squash, zucchini, onion, smashed up black beans, a little pico de gallo, and avocado.  For dessert I had pineapple and strawberries. And I CHOSE to eat this way. And it was YUMMY!

Now, the crescent roll was a temptation. It smelled soo good. But I didn't eat any of the bad stuff.

And why? Because I feel GOOD.

My stomach and thighs are SHRINKING! It's crazy stuff. 

And I've had a few bad meals.. and even a couple of Starbucks non-fat no-whip white mochas! I don't feel deprived, because I am eating more food than I normally would, it's just uber healthy! And when I remind myself to not stress and enjoy it, it's easy. My goal is to make good choices 90% of the time and allow myself the white mocha or the bag of chips in the 10% meals. It is a complete paradigm shift.

And it works.

Here is my Day 15 report...

I have lost 7 pounds.
I am sleeping (except for last night... stress got me.  a good reminder of where I have come)
My pants are loose. I have a couple of pair that fit great two weeks ago. I can take them off without unzipping them now. CRAZY!

Did you get that?

7 pounds and 6 inches in 14 days.

I'm a believer.

Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Furhman works.

Eat to Live .. 10 day update

So.. as I told you last night, things have been going well.

but I had to tell you this.....

in TEN DAYS, I have LOST a total of SIX INCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is one inch off my waist and 2 1/2 inches off EACH THIGH!!

OH MY GRAVY!!!!!

Yep. I'm pumped.

So pumped that the donuts and pig n blankets at the faculty meeting WERE NOT EVEN TEMPTING!

Yes, I just passed up donuts, without a thought. without a whimper.

WHO AM I?????????????????????????

:)

Oh My! The Good, The Crazy, and The Eating Adventure

Okay, I realize that by now you all know that I live in fast forward and take on way, way too many commitments. My normal mode is half crazed and that's okay, it keeps me busy. But this past week and this current week have me way, way beyond my normal crazy. And it's all my own fault.

To begin.. last Thursday and Friday we set up the district art show. I'm pretty sure we have close to 5000 pieces in it this year.

Saturday I judged a bi-district one act play contest. I had a blast, but didn't get home till midnight.

Sunday, I wrote a paper for one of my grad classes.

Monday I started working on the Area one act play contest that I am managing this week. In fact, I really started answering questions from them on Saturday night!

Today, I got everything ready for the reception for the art show, worked on the contest, taught my classes, attended the reception, went to a softball ceremony where students honored teachers that made an impact in their lives (how cool was that!)  and came home and wrote a paper over school district purchasing procedures.

So now I am ready to show off pictures from tonight!

 

And here we are.. the tired district art teachers!

And here is Kylie.. pointing to her fish with a cookie in her mouth!

For the rest of the week, I am going to get artwork ready for a contest, work on the area contest, do my job and at some point write an in-depth case analysis for my organizational change course.  I am hoping to chill in 2020.

So in all of this, how is Eat to Live going? Well, I lost 3.5 pounds last week. I was on a roll until Thursday and then Saturday, I was a stuck at the competition, so my eating choices were not "on target." But I have felt FANTASTIC! AMAZING! and better. Even in the midst of more stress than I can remember and having my allergies go crazy. 

This week, I am hoping to continue the trend of healthy choices. I have come so very far! I am eating very little meat, LOTS AND LOTS of VEGGIES and FRUITS, beans everyday and drinking water. I have not been perfect, nor do I anticipate being able to make perfect choices 100%  of the time. My goal is to hit the 85-90% of the time mark.

The most amazing thing about this whole Eat To Live thing is that I'm SLEEPING! I am not a sleeper. I'm a take an hour or two (easy) to fall asleep kinda person and then I wake up four times during the night and finally get up at 5am because it is a relief that it's finally a "normal" time to get up. Well, last week, in the midst of the insanity and stress that would normally keep me up and sleeping even more poorly, I SLEPT at night! In fact, twice last week I slept ALL NIGHT! From 10:30pm to 5am!  That is HUGE! And for me, worth giving up sugar and fats!

I'll keep you posted, but I am loving this new eating adventure. I think I'm gonna love my waistline even more!

Day 1.. Eat to Live

I read Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live book a couple of years ago after talking with one of my running buddies for months about her eating choices, her energy and her attitude. One of the things that Fuhrman states is that you have to be willing to NOT JUST give it a try for six weeks..but to make a commitment to the eating lifestyle. With that, I said, no thanks.

Well, periodically something would come up and I would ask the friend her take on a food choice or health issue. She always has a great common sense approach and is willing to give me lots of advice knowing that in the end, I'm only going to do probably 10% of her suggestions.. cause really, I don't want to have to work too hard at this healthy lifestyle approach!

Spring forward a year or so and one of my other running buddies and her husband decided to tackle the six week challenge and they have been transformed. My friend has lost a over 10 pounds and at least that many inches (she wasn't overweight to begin with.. just "healthy" like me) in six weeks. More than that, she comments about how good she feels.  All I know is that since she starting eating like this, she has become increasingly fast on our morning runs!

Anyway, the last year I have really struggled with the 10 pounds that I have gained back from my original goal weight in 2012. I lose them, I gain them.. back and forth, over and over again.  Besides the fact that I really wanted to lose another 8 pounds as that was my dream weight goal...

So, all that to say, I borrowed the book again and reread it and decided to just take the plunge and go for it!  The hardcore 6 weeks plan (in my opinion) is really more for the morbidly obese as that is where his case studies fit.  But I am going to give it my best effort.

What am I eating? Well.. no dairy, no animal products, no sugar. LOTS and lots of raw vegetables (1 pound a day is the goal), LOTS and lots of cooked vegetables (another pound goal), four servings of fruit, a cup of beans and a small serving of oil.

Specifically...what did I eat today?

Well...here is my day:

• Got up and ran 4 miles at 5am
• Had a strawberry, banana, peach smoothie with 1/2 cup almond milk and a scoop of Rockin Wellness for breakfast. I also had a cup of coffee with a little bit of non-dairy creamer and some cinnamon in it. (yes, that is cheating.. but let me refer you to page 306.. if a cup of coffee makes me able to stick to the eating, then he says have the cup of coffee!) My goal is to eradicate the non-dairy creamer soon...
• For lunch I had a huge salad with the normal salad veggies plus black beans, a handful of frozen corn and a tablespoon or so of salsa. No dressing. I also had some snap peas, carrots and celery that I dipped in roasted pepper hummus. I had a peach and a pear for dessert/snack during the rest of the school day.
• For dinner, I had a medium baked potato topped with pico de gallo and grilled onions. I ate that with a side of roasted brussel sprouts. I had some peach for desert along with and 4 Wasabi almonds.

And where does that leave me? Well, it's 8:40pm and I'm not hungry.. I had decided that I was going to allow myself to have a glass of wine that was 1/2 cut with water.  But I'm full.

Originally, I wasn't going to broadcast my Eat to Live journey, but it's such a departure from anything else I've ever done foodwise, I figure why not!

And for all of you Weight Watcher's people out there.. this is tough on my mental state!  I went ahead and logged all of my food today, just to see what it would say. Well, with every morsel accounted for, I used 12 points for food and I earned 8 activity points. Those remaining 14 points are playing with my mind.. I could eat an entire candy bar and still not use any of my weekly extras!

Well, I'll keep you posted. I've already packed my lunch tomorrow (that is more than 1/2 the battle for me!). Can't wait to see if I drop any of my middle, my mommy pouch.. more than that, I am proud of the fact that I ate all of those veggies today!